Addressing homelessness, infrastructure projects highlights for Yorkton mayor in 2022

Yorkton Mayor Mitch Hippsley said 2022 was a good year for the east-central Saskatchewan city, as it worked towards addressing homelessness and developing infrastructure projects.

“In no particular order because they’re all of high priority and important, we were very fortunate to get the ball rolling on a new club house at our golf course, it was Yorkton’s oldest asset that was in bad shape, it was 60 years old and got kicked down the road a few too many times,” Hippsley said.

“We also made some incredible inroads with our Indigenous communities by having a huge area of our Yorkton Public Library made full of resources for Indigenous learning. We also topped that off by putting a metal structure Tipi right in the middle of downtown’s City Centre Park to remind everyone of where it all began.”

Hippsley also said the opening of Bruno’s Place in the city this past October is a step in the right direction as they work to address homelessness.

Bruno’s Place is a shelter that was named after a well-known member of Yorkton and nearby Kamsack’s vulnerable community, dating back from the 1970’s to the 1990’s.

Bruno himself was a well-educated man from Montreal, Que., according to Hippsley.

“What it is, is a template for more organizations to see how we can possibly do it. Yorkton officially did not do this it was a church group that stepped up to the mic and made things work,” he said.

Hippsley said Bruno’s Place was a long time coming but added that it’s a wonderful amenity to have now.

According to Hippsley, the city is housing around 12 people currently and would like to escalate that to around 20.

Hippsley said while the city does not currently any other initiatives lined up, it is discussing ways to further donate funding to projects that address homelessness.

“We’re talking with the [provincial] government a lot and I happen to be the chairman of a working group for the city mayors caucus and we meet once a month, so we’re in touch with our government on a regular basis,” he said.

Hippsley said while addressing homelessness is a provincial responsibility, the City of Yorkton wants to do everything it can to help.

Files from CTV News Yorkton’s Brady Lang.